EnvJustice

Biomass and Land Conflicts

Industrial tree plantations and land grabbing are among the principal causes of deforestation and dispossession of the rural poor. Large-scale monocultures for pulp and paper production devastate landscapes and communities; while rich corporations and countries are hungrily buying up land in poor food-insecure countries for export. Owners of transnational companies, financiers, buyers of the pulp and crops produced are indirectly responsible for serious negative impacts on rural communities who depend on this land and face losing their livelihoods.

The World Rainforest Movement and GRAIN are mapping land-based cases of Environmental Injustice and providing analysis and support for campaigns on ‘landgrabbing’. EJOLT aims to provide valuable input into the debate about future EU energy use and to help underline that food sovereignty is the solution to feeding the world and supporting small farmers and their families. Many argue that energy crop production for EU energy consumption from cars to heating and electricity is displacing food crops in the global South. Our work will help answer questions such as: ‘What volumes of imports are involved and how much environmental space in the South is being taken up through European biofuel policies?’